Handstand pushup vs military press

Here is my quandry...Handstand pushups vs military press. Both are hard on the shoulders, both work them well. Most people here, if not all do handstand work. I have done military pressing, and I prefer hanstands pushups. You can do them anywhere, go deep, add weight, walk on your hands, do isometrics and so on. Essentially, you are pressign your own bw. I personally think handstand pushups kick mp's a$$ everytime. Why? Cause strength is a skill...And anyone can do a mp just by changing the weight for themselves, yet, according to Matt Feury 90% of the gym goers in an average gym cant do handstand pushups or even press thier own weight. Obviously it takes strength and skill to do hspu, and I think that they are better than mp because of that.

well all I know is that since I started practicing handstands my shoulders have been insanely sore and are getting so strong and so built is rediculous. I havent even started hspu's yet!

I think they are better because it also requires balance from a crap ton of other muscles so your not just hitting one or two or even three muscle groups when you do handstands or hspu's, your hitting alot of muscles! Ive even noticed a huge difference in my traps! Never have to do shrugs ever again lol.

well all I know is that since I started practicing handstands my shoulders have been insanely sore and are getting so strong and so built is rediculous. I havent even started hspu's yet!

I think they are better because it also requires balance from a crap ton of other muscles so your not just hitting one or two or even three muscle groups when you do handstands or hspu's, your hitting alot of muscles! Ive even noticed a huge difference in my traps! Never have to do shrugs ever again lol.

Back in the day" when someone asked you "What can you lift?" they wanted to know what you could lift over your head. Specifically, they wanted to know how much you could clean to your shoulders, and then press overhead in a strict, letter-perfect, military press. It didn't matter how much you could squat - how much you could deadlift - or how much you could handle in any other lift. And it didn't mean, "How much can you bench?" because the bench press was a virtually unknown exercise back then - and the companies that sold barbells didn't even manufacture benches back then.

The Military Press was recognized as the TRUE TEST of a man's strength. If you were good at it, then you were STRONG! If you weren't good at it, then you worked as hard as heck to get better. The Military Press was also recognized as a tremendous upper body exercise - an exercise that built huge shoulders and thick, massive triceps. The Military Press was one of John Grimek's favorite exercises. Grimek set several American records in the Military Press - and on several occasions came within a whisker of setting a World record in the Military Press. He always rated the Military Press as one of the top exercises a man could do - and one look at his thick, powerful development convinced thousands of lifters to work hard and heavy on the Military Press!

Here are the Hoffman standards for the one rep military press (i.e., the cleanand military press). All weights are inpounds -- and remember, this was back in1939, long before roidskies hit the scene, so don't think the guys were roiding upto make these numbers:

132 pound classGold -- 165Silver -- 145Bronze -- 25

148 pound classGold -- 175 Silver -- 155Bronze -- 135

165 pound classGold -- 190Silver -- 170Bronze -- 150

181 pound classGold -- 205Silver -- 180Bronze -- 155

HeavyweightGold -- 215Silver -- 195Bronze -- 175

So Hoffman's gold medal standard wasroughly 25 or 30 pounds OVER your ownbodyweight in the lighter weight classes,and something like your own bodyweight inthe Heavyweight class (where most liftersof the era weighed in at 220 or 225 pounds,which as BIG back then).These were good standards in 1939, and they're good standards today.You can even use them to adjust your goalsbased on your age. It's simple to do. If you're in your teens, twenties orthirties, shoot for the Gold medal standardin the press. If you're over the age of 40, shoot for thesilver medal standards -- and if you're over the age of 50, shoot for the bronze medal standards.Let me close by saying this -- if you hitthe Gold medal standard, you're doing really well. As in, better than 99.99 percent ofeveryone on the planet who exercises. Andthat's not too shabby. As always, thanks for reading, and have agreat day. If you train today, make it agood one (and do some heavy presses)!Yours in strength,Brooks Kubik